Scott Teeter Addresses Media at Annual Media Day
February 08, 2022 | Women's Lacrosse
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville women's lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter spoke to media ahead of the team's season opener on Friday.Â
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The Cardinals travel to Boulder, Colo., for their first regular season game of the season against the Buffaloes on Friday at 5 p.m. ET and then head to Denver to take on the Pioneers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
(On early season expectations)
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"We have to be firing on all cylinders right out of the gate. Next weekend going to Colorado and Denver, those are two teams that expect to be in the tournament, so we have to be ready right away. If you look at last year's schedule, we had the toughest schedule in the nation playing those extra ACC games, so it's a little bit lighter than last year, but it's still a challenging schedule. We have to be ready for every game, not look ahead at opponents and just take it one day, one game at a time and really make sure we are firing on all cylinders and executing our scouts and our game plans because to reach our goal of getting into the NCAA Tournament, we have some games that are must wins and they are not easy wins for sure."
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(On how prepared the team is heading into the season opener)
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"If you had asked me that question a week to 10 days ago, I probably would have said we were behind, but we've had a really good last week to week-and-a-half of practice, so we're ready. I haven't had the feeling yet that we need to play someone to see what we need to work on and usually you get that when you're waiting for your first game, and I haven't had that feeling yet. I honestly think we're ready. We're just fine-tuning our systems a little bit. There aren't the mental mistakes of going to the wrong place, it's more or less just executing and increasing the tempo of play."
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(On learning from losses to tough opponents last season)
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"Even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted, we learned from those experiences. Last year, we played three of the top four teams not once, but twice, and you just get better down the road from playing in those environments and the girls get more comfortable in those games. I go back a couple years ago when we would go into those games, and everything would have to go right for us to win and now there's the expectation we can compete with those teams, and we can win those games. The next step is to win those, we have to find a way to win those tight games when the game is on the line. When you go back and look at the film, we played really good for about 45 to 50 minutes, so it's that 10 to 15 minutes that's sort of our Achilles' heel, so if we can just figure that out and play a full 60. I think going to quarters like women's basketball did a few years ago will help a little bit. We'll have just a little bit more time for rest and we're deeper, so we don't need to rest them on the field now. We can rest them on the sideline without missing a beat."
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(On the strength of the ACC)
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"It's considered the number one conference in our sport; we have four teams in the top five in the nation. We're right there in the middle tier. If you look at Pitt, they're making their debut, but the transfer portal really helped them out. In the ACC, you have to be ready day in and day out, and you're going to play these teams multiple times because you're going to see them again in the ACC Tournament and if we advance through some rounds in the NCAA Tournament, chances are we're going to see them again. It's very common in the Final Four that there are two or three ACC teams in there with the goal to have four, and that's one of our ACC goals, to try and monopolize the Final Four and for us it's just being right in the mix in the rebuild. We call it a rebuild, but the rebuild is out now and we can't use that as an excuse anymore. We're deep, we have 37 girls on out roster; I think my first year we had 20 active, so we've built it and it's competitive. I know we're using the term rebuild, but it's time to advance the program now."
For the latest information on Louisville lacrosse, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's twitter account at @LouisvilleLax or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLLacrosse.
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The Cardinals travel to Boulder, Colo., for their first regular season game of the season against the Buffaloes on Friday at 5 p.m. ET and then head to Denver to take on the Pioneers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
(On early season expectations)
Â
"We have to be firing on all cylinders right out of the gate. Next weekend going to Colorado and Denver, those are two teams that expect to be in the tournament, so we have to be ready right away. If you look at last year's schedule, we had the toughest schedule in the nation playing those extra ACC games, so it's a little bit lighter than last year, but it's still a challenging schedule. We have to be ready for every game, not look ahead at opponents and just take it one day, one game at a time and really make sure we are firing on all cylinders and executing our scouts and our game plans because to reach our goal of getting into the NCAA Tournament, we have some games that are must wins and they are not easy wins for sure."
Â
(On how prepared the team is heading into the season opener)
Â
"If you had asked me that question a week to 10 days ago, I probably would have said we were behind, but we've had a really good last week to week-and-a-half of practice, so we're ready. I haven't had the feeling yet that we need to play someone to see what we need to work on and usually you get that when you're waiting for your first game, and I haven't had that feeling yet. I honestly think we're ready. We're just fine-tuning our systems a little bit. There aren't the mental mistakes of going to the wrong place, it's more or less just executing and increasing the tempo of play."
Â
(On learning from losses to tough opponents last season)
Â
"Even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted, we learned from those experiences. Last year, we played three of the top four teams not once, but twice, and you just get better down the road from playing in those environments and the girls get more comfortable in those games. I go back a couple years ago when we would go into those games, and everything would have to go right for us to win and now there's the expectation we can compete with those teams, and we can win those games. The next step is to win those, we have to find a way to win those tight games when the game is on the line. When you go back and look at the film, we played really good for about 45 to 50 minutes, so it's that 10 to 15 minutes that's sort of our Achilles' heel, so if we can just figure that out and play a full 60. I think going to quarters like women's basketball did a few years ago will help a little bit. We'll have just a little bit more time for rest and we're deeper, so we don't need to rest them on the field now. We can rest them on the sideline without missing a beat."
Â
(On the strength of the ACC)
Â
"It's considered the number one conference in our sport; we have four teams in the top five in the nation. We're right there in the middle tier. If you look at Pitt, they're making their debut, but the transfer portal really helped them out. In the ACC, you have to be ready day in and day out, and you're going to play these teams multiple times because you're going to see them again in the ACC Tournament and if we advance through some rounds in the NCAA Tournament, chances are we're going to see them again. It's very common in the Final Four that there are two or three ACC teams in there with the goal to have four, and that's one of our ACC goals, to try and monopolize the Final Four and for us it's just being right in the mix in the rebuild. We call it a rebuild, but the rebuild is out now and we can't use that as an excuse anymore. We're deep, we have 37 girls on out roster; I think my first year we had 20 active, so we've built it and it's competitive. I know we're using the term rebuild, but it's time to advance the program now."
For the latest information on Louisville lacrosse, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's twitter account at @LouisvilleLax or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLLacrosse.
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